* Note:
All descriptions of the NR films ( made or distributed ) by NEWSREEL were taken
from old catalogs or reviews etc.

Amerika

Against the background of the November 1969 Anti-Vietnam War
demonstration in Washington DC., footage from all over the world.

1969 - 45 minutes

Army

US. imperialism needs massive military power capable of maintaining
its markets overseas and quelling rebellions at home. This film records
the training and indoctrination given to G.I.s to produce this force.
The men themselves talk about who the army really serves, and the
effect the indoctrination has on them, and the beginnings of resistance
to the army and against the war.

Off the Pig (Black Panther)

This is one of the first films made about the Panthers. It
contains interviews with Party leaders Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver
describing why the Party was formed and what its goals are. It also
includes footage of Panther recruitment, training and the Party's original
10 Point Program laid out by Chairman Bobby Seale.

To keep the well-to-do from continuing to flee the city and depleting
its tax base, city, state, and federal government, and the Rockefellers,
Morgans, and Mellons finance the prestigious Lincoln Center for the
Performing Arts. It was built in the middle of a Puerto Rican ghetto,
displacing thousands of families and a lively street culture. Upper-income
families move into high-rise apartment houses and gourmandise the
"humanities," financially inaccessible and culturally irrelevant to
the lives of the former residents.

Columbia Revolt

In May l968, the students of Columbia University went on strike
after the administrators repeatedly ignored their demand for open discussion
of the university's involvement in racist policies, exploitation of
the surrounding community of Harlem. This is the story of our first
major student revolt, told from inside the liberated buildings.

1968 - 50 minutes

The Earth Belongs to the People

An analysis of the ecology crisis, this film dispels the myths
that big business and big government have been telling the people about
the world-wide ecological crisis. Is there really over-population in
the world, or is there an unequal distribution of wealth and food? Do
people or large industries ruin the environment? Will the earth survive
for the people or for corporate profit ????

Garbage

Bringing the revolution to the Ruling Class, the Up Against
the Wall Motherfuckers export garbage from their Lower East Side ghetto
to the halls of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts-all the while,
New York was in its longest bitterest sanitation workers strike.

1968 - 10 minutes

High School Rising

High school corridors patrolled by narcotics agents and police,
distortion of the history of black, brown, and poor white people, provoked
student attacks on the tracking system. Stills, live footage and rock
music. (Note: This film is not technically excellent, but it is very
useful in understanding the problems occurring in most high schools
across the nation today,)

Los Siete de la Raza

This film is about the oppression of the Third World community
in the Mission district of San Francisco. It deals specifically with
seven Latino youths who were recruiting street kids into a college Brown
Studies Program. They are accused of killing a plainclothesman. While
they become victims of a press and police campaign to "clean-up" the
Mission, their defense becomes the foundation of a revolutionary community
organization called Los Siete

1969 - 30 minutes.

Available in Spanish and English. Spanish soundtrack is poor quality.

Make Out

The oppressive experience of making-out in a car...from the
woman's point of view. Short and sweet. It can be shown a second time
with the sound off and the male can make up his own sound track.

Up Against the Wall Miss America

A now historical film about the disruption of the Miss America
pageant of l968. With raps, guerrilla theater, and original songs .
Women stress the (mis)use of their sisters, by the pageant, as mindless
sexual objects. Footage includes Attorney /activist Flo Kennedy.

6 minutes

Richmond Oil Strike

In January, l969 oil workers in NorthernCalifornia struck.
The local police and the Standard Oil goon squads attacked the strikers
and their families, killing one and injuring others. The striking students
from San Francisco State were asked to join the struggle. For the first
time workers and students fight together against their common enemy.

People's Park

In the spring of l969 , the Berkeley street community initiated
a project to transform a barren and unused university-owned Lot into
a park for the whole community to enjoy-a People's Park. Because the
park threatened the control of the university and presented a challenge
to the concept of private property, the police and National Guard were
used to brutalize the people and destroy the People's Park. 25 minutes

This film was made by SF Newsreel and was originally rejected as
not being political enough. It was too hippie dippy so the beginning
five minute rap by FrankBarneke, a peoples park politico was added
on in the beginning .

Por Primeria Vez (For the First Time)

The Cuban Film Institute sends mobile film units into the
rural provinces-young and old delight on seeing movies "for the first
time." Modern Times with Charlie Chaplin is shown in a rural village.
An enchanting short that leaves you happy and smiling.

Peoples'War

In the summer of l969, Newsreel went to North Vietnam. From
that trip came PEOPLES' WAR. This film moves beyond the perception of
the North Vietnamese as victims to a portrait of how the North Vietnamese
society is organized. It shows the relationship of the people to their
government-how local tasks of a village are coordinated and its needs
met. It deals with the reality of a nation that has been at war for
twenty-five years, that is not only resisting US aggression and keeping
alive under bombing, but that is also struggling to raise its standard
of living and to overcome the underdevelopment of centuries of colonial
rule. Amid much publicity, the footage was confiscated upon its return
to the US. Despite this attempt at suppression, PEOPLE'S WAR has become
one of the most sought-after films on Vietnam. Blue ribbon at U.S.A.
film festival in Houston, Texas. and the Golden Bear Award, Moscow,
USSR

R.O.T.C.

The issue of ROTC is uppermost on many college campuses and
is a major focus of anti war activity. In an interview with the head
of Harvard ROTC, the University's ties to the military industrial complex
and how ROTC serves this relationship is exposed.

Seventy-Nine Springs of Ho Chi Minh

This film on the life and death of Ho Chi Minh is a skillfully
interwoven blend of old still photographs and Newsreel footage of the
DRV's (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) founder, a man whose life spans
three revolutions, three continents and three wars. It portrays his
life: from militant student to revolutionary lead of this country; and
his life-long work dedication to the Vietnamese people and their struggle
for liberation. This eulogy was made by Cuba's renowned filmmaker, Santiago
Alvarez. Musical soundtrack, Spanish titles. (Note: Understanding of
the Spanish titles is not necessary for full enjoyment of the film.)
25 minutes

" . . . one of the most moving political films this reviewer has seen
. . ."

She's Beautiful When She's Angry

In a skit presented at an abortion rally in New York City,
a beauty contestant is pressured to fulfill certain roles in order to
be the "ideal woman", a "winner". The skit shows how women, especially
minority women, are used in this society for profit. The women who perform
also discuss their personal lives and how their struggle as women is
expressed in the skit. ( Note: Soundtrack is sometimes difficult to
understand. )

Strike City

Plantation workers in Mississippi having gone on strike against
the extreme exploitation of the plantation system, and decide to form
their own collective Their determination to stick together, rather than
go back to the plantation or be forced out of the state, is their main
resource. After a bitter winter, living in tents, they obtain partial
support from private sources and begin building permanent housing. The
poverty program backs down on its promise of support in response to
Mississippi senators who fear the implications of collectives of back
farmers in Mississippi.

Summer '68

Draft resistance organizing in Boston, a Boston organizer's
trip to North Vietnam -- a GI. coffeehouse in Texas, Newsreel's take
over of Channel 13 in New York -- following the production of the Rat's
special issue on Chicago -- and Chicago during the Democratic Convention,
the planning and carriage out of five days of protest. Each section
focuses on an organizer central to each project--the attempt is to define
the nature of commitment to "the Movement" against a backdrop of 1968's
summer activities.

BDRG: Boston Draft Resistance Group

actually the first film that was made and distributed by Newsreel.
detailed draft resistance organizing in Boston

1968 - 15 minutes

Troublemakers

In 1965, a group of white organizers went into Newark's central
ward to work with the black community, forming the Newark Community
Union Project (NCUP). Traditional forms of protest--letters to city
officials, demonstrations, electoral politics--were used as tactics
for organizing. The film focuses on the action undertaken around three
issues. The first is an attempt to get housing code enforcement; the
second, to get a traffic light installed at a hazardous intersection.
After many months of hallow promises, and inaction on the part of the
city government an attempt was made to elect a third party candidate
to the City Council. Lacking the resources of the two major parties,
this was doomed to failure too The film is an absorbing, informative
documentary of the frustrating failures of NCUP and the problem of getting
even modest reform within the present political structure. But it goes
beyond this--it shows clearly the contradictions in the concept of white
groups organizing in black and other third world communities. A good
study in some of the early New Left tactics--how and why they failed.

The Woman's Film

The film was made entirely by women in San Francisco Newsreel.
It was a collective effort between the women behind the camera and those
in front of it. The script itself was written from preliminary interviews
with the women in the film. Their participation, their criticism, and
approval were sought at various stages of production.

"... What we see is not only natural and spontaneous, it is thoughtful
and beautiful. It is a film which immediately evokes the sights and
sounds and smells of working class kitchens, neighborhood streets,
local supermarkets, factories, cramped living rooms, dinners cooking,
diaper-washing, housecleaning, and all the other "points of production"
and battlefronts where working class women in America daily confront
the realities of their oppression. It is . . . a supremely optimistic
statement, showing the sinews of struggle and capturing the essential
energy and collective spirit of all working people-and especially
that advanced consciousness which working class women bring to the
common struggle."
Irwin Silber, Guardian.

Yippie

Yippie is filmed farce, juxtaposing the brutal police riot
at the 1968 Democratic Convention with the orgy scenes from D.W. Griffith's
"Intolerance." A clear and energetic no-verbal statement of Yippie politics
Hip jive.

1968 - 15 minutes

Young Puppeteers of South Vietnam

"A gift from the youth of South Vietnam to the youth of America."
Teenagers in the NLF liberated areas of South Vietnam make beautiful,
intricate puppets from scraps of US. war materials. Armed with these
puppets, they travel through the liberated zones performing for the
local children while our planes "search and destroy". A poignant film
that gives a view of the war even more powerful than images of atrocities.
English sound track.

Mayday (Black Panther)

On May l, 1969 the Black Panther Party held a massive rally
in San Francisco. Speakers Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale, and Charles
Garry present the rally's demands for the release of Huey Newton and
all political prisoners. The film includes footage of the police raid
on Panther headquarters in San Francisco a few days prior to the rally
and the Panther's Breakfast for Children Program.

1969 - 15 minutes

Only the Beginning

For years the sentiment against the war in Vietnam has been
growing. The latest polls show that 73% of the US. population want the
troops out of Vietnam now G.I.'s are among the most active protesters
against the war. In April, l971, thousands of G.I.'s-Marines and regular
army, veterans and active duty personnel came to Washington, DC., to
denounce their participation in that "dirty war," and to demand it be
ended immediately. The film begins with the demonstration in Washington.
In front of the Capitol, we see the veterans come before the crowd and
throw their medals away. The film moves to Vietnam where the devastating
effects of US. bombs are documented. ONLY THE BEGINNING is about the
GI. movement to end the war.

Two Heroic Sisters of the Grassland

A cartoon version of a true story about two young sisters
who risked their lives to save their commune's sheep heard during a
sudden snowstorm. The film gives us a sense both of the values stressed
in the new society, and the people's participation at every level in
the transformation of China.

English track 42 minutes

El Pueblo Se Levanta (THE YOUNG LORDS FILM)

One-third of the Puerto Rican people live in the United States. Most
have come in search for the better life promised them by US. propaganda.
Instead they found slum housing, poor or miseducation, low-paying
jobs, and constantly rising unemployment, in a society determined
to destroy their cultural identity The film traces the growth of the
Puerto Rican struggle by focusing on the development of the Young
Lords Party. A Newsreel crew in New York City worked closely with
the Lords for a year and a half-participating and recording the events
and programs which the Young Lords are using to make significant advances
in the Puerto Rican struggle. The film deals with the main problems
in the Puerto Rican community-health, education, food, and housing.
These problems become the focus of the Young Lords Party.

The Case Against Lincoln Center

Urban renewal removes 35,000 Puerto Rican families from New
Your City's upper West Side to build Lincoln Center, a cultural show-case
for the city's middle and ruling class. The film discusses the links
between the problems of the city, and the forces of American corporate
imperialism.

1668 - 12 minutes (available in Spanish)

No Game

October 21, 1967; The pentagon; 100,000 anti-war demonstrators
who had not come prepared for a violent confrontation with the military
police and Pentagon guards; for the tear gas, and rifle butts.

Pig Power

As student take to the streets in New York and Berkeley, the
forces of order illustrate Mayor Daley's thesis that the police are
there "to preserve disorder", and we must organize to challenge their
control and preserve our lives as well as our life styles. A short impressionistic
montage of music and images pointing up the disparity between their
force and ours. The function of police repressing Black and white demonstrators
alike is emphasized.

Community Control

The struggle for Community Control in Black and Puerto Rican
communities in New York City. An examination of colonialism as it manifests
itself in many American cities. In two so called experimental districts,
police are constantly called in to enforce the political decisions of
the state and city bureaucracy, and the striking teachers; union. All
ofthis taking place against the legitimate demands of the community
(Ocean Hill-Brownsville, and East Harlem). Filmed inside some of the
schools involved in the conflict; contains interviews with Herman Ferguson,
Minister of Education for the Republic of New Africa, and Les Campbell,
director of The Afro-American Teachers Association.

50 minutes

Venceremos

A film shot in Cuba in l970-71 about two brigades of 500 Americans
that went to Cuba illegally in order to show support by breaking the
blockade and to help with the sugar harvest of ten million tons. They
cut cane with brigades that were sent from Vietnam, North Korea, and
Latin America. This is the story of their boat ride from St. Johns,
Canada and their stay in Cuba.

High School

A film about high school students and how school becomes a
prison.

20 minutes ( muddled, poor editing )

You Don't Have to Buy the War

A speech by former Miss America, Bess Meyerson presented to the group
Another Mother for Peace at a gathering in Beverly Hills. One of the
strongest speeches ever given about who is making money out of the
war in Vietnam. She gives excellent reasons to boycott many everyday
products that women buy.

Open for Children

One of the first films ever made about the need for childcare.

Make It Real

This is what Newsreel considered an energy film. It contains
great shots of street actions and hot music. These short films were
made to show between our longer films that were "more serious" They
were made to give youth a feeling that they could get up and become
"street fighting men".

McDonnel-Douglas

A film about the McDonnel-Douglas company and it's relationship
to the war-machine.

Free Farm

A film made by Newsreel folks that went to live in Vermont.
A story about a community free farm on land loaned by a small college.
It tell the story of coming together to farm the land and to have Sunday
community gatherings. The college calls the cops to kick people off
the land in the fall before the harvest and local young men trash the
farm. An interesting note is that posters are put up warning that a
local cop named Paul Lawrence was setting up and beating up people.
Ten years later he was busted for planting drugs and was known as the
bad cop that went to jail. A true story of hippies with politics.

Inciting to Riot

A quick montage flirtation with the idea of rural guerrilla
struggle in the US returning repeatedly to the reality of pig power
in the cities and space technology. A flashing image of a state of mind
common among hip and political youth.

10 minutes

Don't Bank on America

This is the story of one of the first ecological political actions
of the period, the burning of the Bank of America. (Newsreel distributed
this film?)

Mighty Mouse and Little Eva

This is a 1930's racist cartoon, taking off on Uncles Tom
Cabin. Distributed by Newsreel.

8 Minutes

Ice

A film made by Newsreel member Robert Kramer with a production team
made up of Newsreel members. A story of a time in the future when
the US is at war with Mexico and the Americans are living in a police
state. The film includes a kidnapping, a murder, prison break, takeover
of an apartment house for political education, sex, nudity, and violence.
and much, much more. 150 Minutes

( a new description of this film will be available
soon! although this was perhaps the description in an early NR catalogue,
we hope to have more background on these old films. how they were
made. the process and reflections of those who worked on them )